Army to become 'future-ready' with three-phase transformation plan: COAS

COAS says initiative is aligned with the Viksit Bharat vision and will culminate in 2047

The Indian Army is putting in place a three-phase transformation plan which will make it an integrated “future-ready force” by 2047, Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) General Upendra Dwivedi said on Thursday.

 

The “hop, step, and jump” transformation plan is aligned with the Viksit Bharat national vision, COAS said at the third edition of the Chanakya Defence Dialogue in the capital, adding that the aim was to stay decisive and prepared in a rapidly evolving global landscape marked by rising conflict.

 

Elaborating on the plan, the COAS said that the first phase, ‘HOP 2032’, forms a comprehensive framework under the Army’s decade of transformation initiative launched in 2023.

 

The second phase, ‘STEP 2037’, comprises a five-year period of consolidating the gains from the first phase. The plan will culminate in the third phase, ‘JUMP 2047’, under which the Army aims to emerge as an integrated, future-ready force.

 

The COAS also outlined the four “springboards” that will drive this transformation plan. The first is self-reliance, centred on empowerment through indigenisation.

 

“It remains our first springboard. Its results are visible in defence manufacturing, space achievements and rapid military technology absorption. Yet much more remains to be done as we deepen our self-reliance capability base,” he said.

 

The second is accelerated innovation.

 

“We must now move on from experimentation to enterprise-scale impact at a much faster pace in artificial intelligence, cyber, quantum, autonomous systems, space and advanced materials,” he added.

 

The third is adaptation and reforming the ecosystem.

 

While the fourth is military-civil fusion.

 

“The development of warfighting capabilities is a multi-agency, multi-modal endeavour wherein the troika of academia, industry and the military must achieve deep cross-domain synergy. The military is shedding inhibitions, opening (firing) ranges, funding start-ups and joining national technology missions, and stands ready to strengthen this troika of transformation even further,” he added.

 

The Chanakya Defence Dialogue 2025, being held on Thursday and Friday, is centred on the theme “Reform to Transform: Sashakt, Surakshit aur Viksit Bharat.”